Next week diver Sam Fricker will carry the attention of a nation when he competes in the 10-metre platform at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Growing up in Newcastle but now living in Cronulla, the 19-year-old is one of four debutantes named in the Australian diving team for the Games.
Fricker had secured his spot when he finished second in the 10-metre platform at the Australian Championships in Sydney.
"It will be different, but I have not been to an Olympics and have no expectations of what else it could be like," he said.
"I am so excited to be on the team. I just want to be in the village, then get out and compete and soak every minute of it up," he said
His diving career was inspired by watching Matthew Mitcham win gold at the Beijing Olympics. Now, 13 years later, he is days away from competing in the same event.
"I always had dreams of going to the Olympics, but I didn't know how I was going to get there. At the time, I was doing gymnastics and trampolining. Then I set my heart on diving," he said
His family relocated from Newcastle to Sydney in 2015, as he'd spend up to 23 hours a week training at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre with NSWIS.
He also moved to Trinity Grammar School, joining their diving squad, where he would eventually become captain.
Now based in Cronulla, Fricker trains five hours a day at Homebush. His signature dive is an inward three-and-a-half somersault.
The energetic entrepreneur also runs an environmentally friendly wheat-based straw business outside of the pool - Sam's Straws - that he started three years ago.
Fricker said his eco-motto is Dive into Clean Oceans.
"I saw a video of a plastic straw stuck in a sea turtle's nose and I was inspired to do something about ocean conservation."
"But the ultimate goal has always been to win gold at the Olympics," Fricker said.
"For me now, it is make the final and then dive for your life and fight for it."
Watch Sam Fricker compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games in the Men's 10-Metre Platform Preliminary Friday, August 6, 2021-the men's 10 m platform event is the last one of the competition.